


Contact

by Maester_Aemon_Heterodyne



Series: The Coming of the End [2]
Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 08:37:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10895673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maester_Aemon_Heterodyne/pseuds/Maester_Aemon_Heterodyne
Summary: Willow performs a party trick; Giles takes things up with his superiors.The second story of the Coming of the End. Please note that the Coming of the End stories are meant to be read in order, and generally lead one to the next, so if you haven't read the previous installment(s) in the series, the following isn't likely to make a great deal of sense.





	Contact

"That doesn't belong here, does it?" said Giles. 

"No, it doesn't," Willow replied. The two of them were in a meadow, where late Summer sunlight filtered through the trees of the Devon countryside. They were staring at a small, white flower in front of a sitting Willow. 

"A  _ fioracua alaya _ . Native to Paraguay, if my botany serves."

"Is there anything you don't know everything about?" 

"Synchronised swimming. Complete mystery to me," Giles jested. He moved in closer and sat down next to her, examining the delicate flower more closely. "Hard to grow these outside of the native soils. Where does this one come from?"

"Paraguay," said Willow, smiling. 

"Who brought it here?" 

"I did," she said, with a touch of pride. "It's all connected, Giles. The roots, the molecules, the  _ energy _ . Everything's all connected."

"You're beginning to sound like Miss Harper."

"She taught me a lot."

"Then why aren't you at your lesson?" 

Willow's smile disappeared. "I'm sorry." The flower shrank slowly away through the ground, back to Paraguay. 

"It's alright, really. She was just--" 

"Afraid? Afraid of me? They all are. The coven here, they're the most amazing women I've ever met. But there's this look that they get. Like I'm gonna turn them all into bangers and mash, or something. Which I'm not even really sure what that is." 

"They're cautious. I'm sure you can understand that, and why."

"I don't think I'm really that powerful."

"Everything's connected, as you said. You're connected to a great power, Willow."

"Maybe you should just take it from me!" said Willow. She got up and stormed away. Giles sighed before rising to follow her.

"Willow, you know we can't do that," he said, getting up to follow her. "This is no hobby, or normal addiction. It's power. It's your power, and your responsibility. We can't just absolve you of it."

Willow stopped in her stride, and paused before speaking, thinking it through. "Will they always be afraid of me?"

"Maybe," said Giles. "Can you handle it?"

"I deserve worse. I killed people, Giles. I hurt  _ Tara _ . I left her there, and she nearly died." For all that Willow had done, for all the mistakes she’d made over the course of the last year, Tara was her greatest shame. She'd nearly killed all her friends, wrecked the magic shop, killed a man, nearly destroyed the world, but she had abandoned Tara. She’d left her to bleed out on the bedroom floor while she went off to rampage about Sunnydale, was the knife in her gut. After that creep Warren shot her, Tara had gone unconscious. When she'd stopped moving, Willow had thought her dead. She'd tried to summon the spirit that had brought Buffy back, but he hadn't come; since Tara wasn't dead, her call fell on deaf ears. Something in her had snapped then. All the self-control she'd worked to acquire, all the hope she'd built herself back up on, melted away. All the pent-up darkness that still seethed within her boiled over, and she had left her baby, her love, lying there bleeding out to go and seek vengeance.

And she'd found it too. After destroying the magic box and absorbing the knowledge of all the books Giles and Anya kept, Willow had skinned Warren alive before casting him away into the darkest depths of Acathla's realm. 

"I've not forgotten," Giles said. "I was there, if you recall." When Giles had confronted her, trying to talk her down, she'd drained his powers too, and then gone off to open the hellmouth and destroy the world, for no other reason but to end the suffering of its people. 

Willow paused again. "When you brought me here, I thought it was to kill me or to lock me in some mystical dungeon for all eternity with the torture and hellfire and you know.  Instead, you go all Dumbledore on me. I'm learning  _ more  _ about magic. All about energy and Gaia and root systems."

"Do you want to be punished?" Giles had wondered at this for a long time, at how she felt. Back in his days as Ripper, he had hurt people, and killed them too. He'd gotten his friends killed. When that had happened, he'd felt rather like he needed to punished, and had entertained the idea of punishing himself. Ultimately though, he'd sought redemption, and joined with the Watchers as his parents had done. This ultimately led him to Buffy. 

"Maybe. Maybe not. I just want to be Willow."

"You are. We're all who we are, in the end. No matter how much things seem to have changed."

Willow said nothing for a long while. The two of them simply stood, looking out across the grassy field. Eventually, Willow smiled meekly. "Thank you, Giles. I'll see you tomorrow," she said, before turning and walking away towards the little country town to return to the coven. 

Willow, since he'd brought her here nearly five months ago, had made enormous progress. She could control her magic as well as could be hoped, at least if she used it sparingly, and hadn't done anything explosive or even particularly worrisome since her arrival. That she'd come out of everything with her sanity intact was almost miracle. She was stronger than she knew. Giles was beginning to realise that most people were.

Giles, however, had other things to think on than just that. In his communications with the Watcher's Council, he knew there was something they were keeping him in the dark about, and something big too, which worried him. Their reflexive secrecy, even within the order, frequently made life rather difficult for the ordinary Watcher, especially those in the field. This had only gotten worse in recent years. On top of that, he'd received word not two hours ago that Buffy had called the number he'd left her as an emergency contact. She'd not done this once since he'd left her in Sunnydale, and he knew she wouldn't have unless there really was some kind of apocalypse-level emergency. He needed to call her, and soon. 

He made his way slowly back to the town, to the small country house the Coven had lent him. It was a quiet, cozy place, a classic English cottage, full of books, and with none of the distractions of his haunts in London or Sunnydale. However, as it somehow always did, distraction had caught up with him. He put down his coat, put on a kettle for tea, and went to the phone. He paused for a moment, hesitant, then resolved to do it. He dialed Buffy's number. 

Three rings went by before he got an answer. "Summers house." 

"Buffy," Giles said. "You tried to call me?"

"Giles! It's good to hear your voice again. I was hoping you'd call me soon." 

"Here I am. What is it you needed to talk to me about?"

"A lot of things, especially Willow, but mostly about all the dying Slayers-in-training. I need to know how many have died, and if there's anything I can do about it." Her tone, initially bright, sobered rapidly. 

"What? Buffy what are you- dying trainees, you say?" Giles had heard nothing about potential Slayers being killed.  _ Is this what the Council is trying to hide? _

"Don't you know? The First Evil trying to kill the potentials?"  _ The First Evil?   _ That was not something he had anticipated. The First was a dark and deep thing, not one generally discussed _ What in God's name... _

"What do you mean? You think the First Evil is killing potential Slayers? What makes you think that?"

"Angel visited us last night. He says that he caught the First Evil's followers trying to kill a potential Slayer, and that this has happened several more times. According to Wesley, the Council's lost a bunch of trainees already, and they think the First is trying to end the Slayer line."

Giles removed his glasses and compulsively began cleaning them. This was some rather troubling news indeed, made worse by how completely in the dark he'd been. In the moment, he wasn't even particularly upset by the thought of Angel in Sunnydale. "Are you quite sure? Buffy, this is a... deeply disturbing revelation, I must say. Trying to end the Slayer line?" 

"Yeah. Pretty sure. I don't know why else the First would do that. Did you really not know? I thought the Council would be all over it."

"The Council hasn't told me anything. In fact, I've suspected for some time now that they're hiding something important from me."

"Figures. That's  _ so _ like them. Giles, how's Willow doing? Is she all right? Can I talk to her?"

"I'm afraid not, Buffy. She's doing well, though. I think you'd be proud of her. Now, I'm very sorry, it's been wonderful talking with you, and I'm sure you'll be hearing from me soon, but I need to go. I think Quentin Travers is overdue for a call." Before she could respond, he hung up. This couldn't wait. For the Council to keep from him something of such magnitude was egregious. He dialed Travers' number.

After a suspiciously long hold with Travers' secretary, he was redirected finally to the man himself. "What is it, Rupert? Has that witch of yours gone off again?" sneered the annoyed-sounding head Watcher. Giles had never been a favourite among the Watchers' Council, and Buffy's actions over the last couple of years had not done a great service to reputation with them, despite his reinstatement as her Watcher. This, more even than the Council's secrecy, probably contributed significantly to his being kept in the dark. 

"No, Travers. Buffy is well. But I'm afraid I can't say the same for many of our trainees."

Travers was silent for a long, heavy moment. "We were hoping to keep this situation quiet," he said, with an edge of weariness Giles had not expected. "We've lost dozens, Rupert. Dozens of trainees and many more of our operatives have been killed already. We have to avoid a general panic. We must, if we are to survive. Am I to suppose that this is out in the open now?"

"No, I don't believe so. Not among the ranks of Watchers, at least. Buffy filled me in, as it happens."

"Of course. It had to be her, didn't it?" Travers very nearly spat out. Giles had rarely heard him so angry about anything. No matter what one might have to say of his competence, Travers was by no means a man ruled by his passions. "And how is it she learned?" 

"Apparently, it was Angel that told her." 

This seemed to take Travers a while to digest. "I suppose we have a memo to send out, then." 


End file.
